Women's Wage Gap Analysis

With the current elections bringing about many debates on hot topic issues it is no surprise that women’s suffrage has become a battle cry for many presidential candidates. These candidates play to the hopes of many women by promising equal rights for equally qualified male and female workers. These persuasive and motivating arguments for women’s rights calls to question what is the extent of this issue? The reality is that there is a significant wage gap between male and female workers. This wage gap causes men to be paid more than women, even when they do the same jobs and are equally qualified for those jobs. This essay will attempt to analyze two graphs by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to visualize what the wage difference of equally

continued to be paid differently often with the men earning a higher salary. A bar graph presented in the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Report titled “Median usual weekly earnings of women and men who are full-time wage and salary workers, by race and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, 2013 annual averages”, clearly depicts this difference. Overall the men during 2013 made an average weekly earning of $860 while the women in 2013 made only $706 on average. This difference in earnings caused the total population of men in the U.S. in 2013 to earn an average of $154 more per week than women workers. Of these men and women, the white males made an average of $884 per week and the white females made just $722 per week. Thus, the total white males working in the U.S. in 2013 earned an average of $162 more than women workers per week. Out of the Whites, Blacks or African Americans, Asians and those of Hispanic or Latino ethnicity the Asian male and female wage gap was the largest with Asian females earning $819 on average per week and the Asian males earning $1,059 on average per week. This $240 difference indicates that the male to female wage difference in the U.S. may most strongly affect Asians. Black or African American males made $664 on average per week and Black or African American females made $606 on average per week, a difference of $58. Those of Hispanic or Latino ethnicity who were male made $594 while those of

It is an issue that affects women of all races and has been affecting them for many years. Although many leaps and bounds have been made to end the wage gap, it still remains consistent that women, although able to work alongside men, are treated unjustly. The two graphs are proof that it is a larger issue than most believe and that actions are being taken to continue its decent, however if more effort was given there would be a much quicker end to the wage gap, drawing the U.S. closer to equal rights for